We are now a year-and-a-half into the COVID‑19 pandemic, and rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals are still facing some of the same challenges that began in spring 2020, as well as new ones. Most recently, we learned that COVID‑19 vaccine efficacy is reduced in some patients on immunosuppressive therapies and the need for additional immunization is…
The COVID-19 pandemic changed pretty much every facet of human activity, from home life to social interactions to the workplace. Medicine and research kept up a dizzying pace throughout the pandemic, with physicians and researchers working clinic hours even if they were able to use telemedicine to do some of their work from home. For…
Applications are now open for the ACR’s Advocacy 101 program, held in conjunction with Advocates for Arthritis. Amanda Schnell, MD, describes how ACR/ARP members can learn to be successful advocates for rheumatology.
Many practitioners can relate to the epiphany of Roy Basch, MD, the lead character in Samuel Shem’s satirical novel The House of God.1 During his first on-call shift as a medicine intern, long work hours combined with jaded advice from his senior resident leave Dr. Basch feeling disenchanted with the medical profession until he cares…
Sir William Osler, a pioneer of modern medical education, taught “medicine is learned by the bedside and not in the classroom.”1 How, then, do we learn medicine in a world dominated by virtual interactions? This question was forced upon us in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. From telemedicine to remote meetings, the rheumatology community…
One thing that became clear very quickly this past year was that the COVID-19 pandemic would change the way we deliver care to patients. What has not changed amid an evolving healthcare landscape is our driving focus to ensure our patients’ access to rheumatology care and the availability of state-of-the-art treatments. We know you share…
The Budget Control Act of 2011 cut Medicare physician payments by 2% across the board. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in 2020, suspended this sequester (i.e., a cut in government spending) between May 1 and Dec. 31, 2020. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law in December…
A new Medscape survey found that rheumatology has the second-highest burnout level among the 29 specialties included, with 50% of the rheumatology respondents saying they’re experiencing “burnout.” To which some rheumatologists are responding: Really? “I was quite surprised by this,” says Beth Jonas, MD, chief of the Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology Division at the University…
Learn to properly use the revised CPT codes to document your time and medical decision making during patient visits to help ensure your practice is appropriately remunerated.
AMA Honors Mark Andrejeski with Lifetime Achievement Award In November 2020, the American Medical Association (AMA) presented Mark Andrejeski, the recently retired executive vice president of the ACR, with its Medical Executive Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors a medical association executive who has contributed substantially to the goals and ideals of the medical profession….